Baseball: Mandan building off WDA title from a year ago

MANDAN, N.D. — “It was wild. It was it was the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball by far. It was awesome,” Dylan Gierke says.

Last season, the Mandan Braves went on a magical run in the WDA tournament, winning their first regional title since 2015. With a group of nine returning seniors this year, the Braves are looking to take the next step.

“I think it shows that growing up, we know each other, we have good chemistry together and overall when it comes down to it, when we can play, we play our best,” senior Tate Olson says. “It’s awesome, especially being in the last year, playing with these guys. I want nothing better than to win. WDA and make a run at state.”

“The kids that are returning have flavor in their mouth now and they’re excited to be part of that,” head coach Dewitt Mack adds. “That was kind of a magical ending to the season for us. So to get there, come back again and and try and be in that title game again, it’s going to be a lot of work. But, I think with some hard work, we could possibly be there.”

Mandan is off to a strong start to the season, currently owning a 14-2 record. A key to the Braves success has been timely hitting in crucial situations.

“Whenever we need runs we’ve been getting them, when we have hits throughout the whole lineup and that have just been producing,” Olson says.

“Runners in scoring position, we need guys to step up, make plays, make the right hits,” Gierke adds. “And so far that’s what that’s what we’ve done.”

“That’s a confidence builder for the kids,” Mack says. “We have confidence in everybody that steps up the plate that they’re going to get up there and hit the ball. We want to be aggressive at the plate. We want to hit the strikes. We want we want to hit the pitcher’s mistakes. That’s what we kind of encourage kids to do.”

While the bats have been the highlight this year, the defense has struggled. Head coach Dewitt Mack says that the team has to be more disciplined in the field. The team says that it all starts on the mound.

“We just need to maintain throwing strikes and getting ahead early on counts because once we tend to get behind on counts, you tend to make errors in the field,” Olson says. “Just remember the fundamentals and kind of how to make the plays. Try to make the easiest play that you can and of trying to make more difficult ones.”

Mandan has won four straight games, and returns to action on Friday against Fargo Davies. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. out east.

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